The Other Side
by Free Again
Summary: Teddy Lupin is sick of everyone's pity. So when he gets the chance to be part of an exchange program and leave behind his past, he jumps at it. He just might find he likes the Other Side better than his reality. TLXOC
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Harry Potter fic, and it takes place after the books- in the kids time. **

Hogwarts, the number one wizarding school in England. But it takes in wizards from around the world. The other two international schools are Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. But those are not the only wizarding schools. They are just the boarding schools, where the rich snobs get to live on campus. I don't go to one of the elitist schools, because my family can't afford to let me go. I never got a letter or anything when I turned eleven, but I am still a witch.

I go to a small school about four miles from my house. There are still seven years, but we are the average students, the ones who are not important. We either don't have the money or we have nothing planned in our futures that might make us important. We are all pureblood, but that is just another thing that makes us average. The Muggle-born witches and wizards get a free ride to Hogwarts, but only because they have proven that they are special by having magical abilities when no one else in their family does.

"Riley, if you don't leave for school right now you are going to get another detention. And if you get another one they will kick you out, and you will have to get a Muggle job." My mom yelled up the stairs. My family is not one of the families who care about everyone's bloodline, and whether they are Muggle's or wizards, but to be a wizard in a Muggle job would be horrible. No magic and no one to talk about your magical problems with.

I sighed and got out of bed. A glance at the clock showed me that I had an hour an a half to get to school, but most of that time would be spent walking, since I hadn't reach apparition age. I am only 16, so I have a year left of school and then I can use magic whenever I want. I walked over to my closet and searched for something decent to wear. I finally decided on an aqua tank top, black jacket, and plain jeans. Walking into the kitchen I noticed that my mom had left while I was getting ready.

As I started to get my breakfast out, an owl flew in the window. I didn't recognize it, but figured it was probably from my moms work. I grabbed a couple owl treats and walked over. I fed the owl and it dropped its letter in my hand. Surprisingly, it flew off after delivering the letter, not even waiting for me to respond. I looked at the seal, and my eyes widened. The letter wasn't from my mom, it was from my school.

_Dear Miss Nortin,_

_On May 15, an exchange student is arriving to go to our school. We would like to inform you that your family has been picked to house the new student. You are excused from school on this day because you need to be home to welcome your guest._

_Sincerely,_

_Margret Daner_

I looked around my house. And it was a mess. And the new kid was coming today. Well I guess my mom didn't have to worry about my getting detention today. I got our owl and wrote a letter to tell her we were going to have a guest. Then I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the house, making up the guest room, and cooking an actual dinner for us. Normally my mom would just pick up something from a greasy restaurant, but I wanted to have a better first impression than that. I finally finished making our house presentable, and decided to take a bubble bath, because I was exhausted from heavy cleaning. I went to the bathroom- we only have one in our house- and started to fill the tub. I poured in a bit of my favorite bubble bath, coconut mango scented. After the tub was filled I turned off the water, put my headphones on, and relaxed. I don't know how much later, but the sound of knocking woke me up. I suddenly remembered that I had a visitor. I knew I didn't have time to do anything, so I ended up just wrapping myself in a towel and going to answer the door. I made it to the top of the stairs perfectly fine, but about halfway down I had left a book lying on the floor, and I tripped over it down the stairs. I hit the door with a thud. I slowly stood up and braced myself on the door before I slowly opened it. The first thing I noticed was that our guest was a guy, the second was his bright turquoise hair. And the third thing my brain registered was the look of shock on his face, which was warring with a scared look for dominance.

"Hi. Sorry I took forever, I was in the tub. And then I fell down the stairs, which caused me to hit the door." I said, trying to figured out why he looked scared. "Are you okay?"

"You're one to talk." He said and reached out to touch the top of my head, where I had hit the door. Almost as soon as he touched it my head exploded in pain. I swayed and caught myself on the door, before passing out cold.

**Please tell me what you think, I would really like to know if you think I should continue this story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm in school and my partner for the project isn't here, so i can't really do the project. So i finished this instead :)**

I groaned as I slowly regained consciousness. The top of my head was throbbing, but I couldn't remember why. I heard mumbled voices somewhere in the room, but couldn't tell who they were or what they were talking about. My eyes flickered open and I blinked a couple of times to make the blurriness go away.

"Riley, you're awake. How do you feel?" My mom asked as soon as she noticed my eyes were open.

"Other than a throbbing headache, perfectly fine." I said. She felt my forehead, and seemed content that I didn't have a fever. "What time is it, and why aren't you at work?"

"It's 3 pm. And your friend told me what happened and told me you were unconscious. Why have I never met him before? You never introduce me to your friends anymore. They used to come over all the time when you were younger."

"Wait. Which friend told you?" I asked. My mom moved so I could see the person she had been talking to when I woke up. I had never seen him before, he had lightish brown hair and blue eyes. "Mom, can I have a minute with him please?"

"Sure. I'll go make you some tea." My mom walked out of my door, making sure she left it open.

"So who exactly are you, and how did you get in my house?"

"You opened the door for me. You said you had just gotten out of the tub," at this he blushed a bit, "and you had fallen down the stairs and hit your head on the door. Then you fainted."

"The person who I opened the door for didn't look like you. He had blue hair." I said accusingly. His eyes widened and then a look of concentration overtook his face and his hair changed from brown to blue. The same blue as the guy at the door's hair had been. "You're a Metamorphmagus!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah. I get it from my mom. And I get my PMS from my dad," he said, muttering the last bit. I decided not to worry about that. "You probably want to get dressed or something. I'll go help your mother get tea for you." He abruptly left. I got out of my bed and pulled on jeans and a tank top. Apart from the throbbing in my head, my body didn't have any lasting bruises from my tumble with the stairs. I crept down the stairs, and listened to my mom talk to- I don't even know who this guy is. Kinda creepy if you ask me.

"So, how do you know Riley?" my mom asked the stranger. I peeked into the kitchen in time to see him sitting at the table, as my mother served him tea and cookies. And interrogated him on his life.

"I am part of the exchange program. I arrived today," he explained, and I could tell he didn't really like being in social situations.

"Oh. Who are you staying with?" my mom asked innocently. I decided to intervene.

"Mom. Do you have anything that can make my head hurt just a little less?" adding just the perfect amount of whine to my voice to sound like I was in pain. And it worked like a charm, she suddenly forgot all about the strange boy, and remembered her daughter. Who had just woken up. After falling down the entire flight of steps. My mom dragged me into the kitchen and forcibly sat me down, and watched as I drank the entire cup of tea. Once I finished another took it's place, but I could tell it wasn't tea. It was a pain relieving potion. And they taste nasty. I held my breath and downed the entire thing in one big gulp.

"Riley, why were you home before 3 today? You know that if you skip school again they can kick you out?" My mom asked, to break the uncomfortable silence that had descended onto the kitchen.

"I was excused for the day," I answered simply.

"What did you do this time?" she asked, with a disappointed look on her face. Instead of answering I just pointed to the letter which was still open on the table where I had left it. My mom picked it up and quickly read it. Once she was done she looked at our guest. "So you are staying with us. That's good to know. I'm Ms. Mortin. You can just call me Melissa if you want."

"I'm Teddy Lupin. Well Theodore technically, but no one has ever called me that since the war," our guest, Teddy, said. He got a far away look in his eyes, and I could tell something had happened in the war that had affected him.

"Were you alive during the war?" I asked, since I hadn't been born until after, and he didn't look that much older than me.

"I was born just before the Battle of Hogwarts," Teddy replied. Which made him about 16 years old. My age, although I was born after the Battle. Not the January following it like most of my peers. The baby-boom of the wizarding world.

"So you don't remember anything about it?" I asked. He shook his head, but the look was still on his face. Like he had lost someone important. I didn't press for more information, hoping he would trust me later to confide. "So how did you get put into this program? I've never even heard of it."

"My godfather created it, they have something like it in the Muggle world. So I volunteered to be the guinea pig," Teddy said, then blinked a couple of times clearing the troubled look off his face. "And I would like to thank you both for allowing me to stay in your house for my stay."

**I just want to say thank you to MrzDracoMalfoy, she is awesome and we have started a new story called "The Bet". It's on her profile so go there and read it, I think it's going to be funny.**

**I would also like to thank everyone who has stuck with me, I am working on every story and I should have them posted soon :)**


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